As The Castle Wanders By
by Syzeria
Summary: One-shot collection. With the help of a Random Word Generator, it's a hearty dive into our beloved characters' lives off-screen and beyond the pages.
1. Author's Note

**Author's Note**  
><strong>In Which She Blabs<strong>

Thanks for showing interest in this to-be one shot collection for Howl's Moving Castle. I see great things in both the book and movie (I hear some don't even know the book exists!), and I made sure to know both sides of the coin before starting anything. That being said, this is my first step into Howl and Sophie's world, and I will flip between the original story and the adaptation.

But no more boring talk. Here's the fun part: just like when Howl The Bird Monster only has one leg, my source of inspiration will be purely random. I'll be using an online random word generator, and take off with that word in mind.

I hope you'll enjoy the ride and critique the chapters no matter your personal opinion! I'm all for reciprocating when it comes to critiques. If I get any form of feedback from someone I'll be sure to check out what they've got in store themselves, and keep the wheels spinning.

The blabbing is over now, so go on and click for the first one shot!


	2. In Which They Are Captivated

**No. 1  
><strong>**In Which They Are Captivated  
>World: Movie<br>Word: Captivated **

Howl leaped through the portal and into his moving castle. The blackness falling behind was unable to enter through the door after him, and Howl's glass-like eyes welcomed the dim light of Calcifer that made the room glow with warmth. However, the light deceived reality: slowly, painfully, Howl's winged arms slithered inward until the stark blue feathers vanished into nimble and long fingers. Feeling as though his insides were cracking, his claws receded and he eventually exhaled in relief.

The weight of the darkness was gone, for the moment. He was human again.

"I don't want to repeat myself, Howl," muttered Calcifer from under a burning log, "but transformations becoming even more painful is a bad sign."

Howl's shoulders ached and he shrugged. "I know Calcifer," he moaned hoarsely, "but I'm too tired tonight to argue." He slowly stood and Calcifer was about to automatically announce hot water for his friend's bath when Howl noticed there wasn't any soft breathing from behind the curtain of the cubbyhole. "Where is Sophie?" He wondered with composed curiosity.

"An hour ago, she suddenly hopped out from behind that curtain and ran upstairs. I tried to talk to her, but she was so absorbed by something. I have no idea what she saw," Calcifer said before Howl could ask.

Howl frowned and his features would have been heartbreaking to fair eyes. Calcifer, however, was unfazed as Howl slowly climbed the stairs with grace, his shoes barely touching the wooden steps. Howl's fatigue was suddenly replaced with intrigue.

What was Sophie doing?

Howl strode down the upstairs hallway. He checked on Markl, who was snoring loudly with head slipping off the edge of his mattress. Howl pressed forward and stopped at the bathroom door but reminded himself that he had cast a barrier, keeping Sophie from entering and sabotaging his bath chemicals while he was out. He continued on and walked by his own bedroom, when he heard whispers from beyond the door. Howl silently opened his door an inch and froze.

His eyes widened as Sophie smiled in awe before his private vanity mirror, running a finger across her cheekbone and failing to come across a single wrinkle. "Incredible," she gasped at her reflection. "So it can be weakened ..." She stuttered slightly as she spoke and Howl knew she was forbidden to speak of it, even to herself.

Howl sighed without a sound; it was wonderful to see her looking young while conscious. Her smile outshone some of the hundred or so trinkets along the walls and floor, and he didn't think he'd ever seen her pearly teeth. She flipped her hair onto one side and ran her fingers through it, admiration laced with the graceful movement. Sophie's eyes held a twinkling sign of relief.

Then, her lips pouted in a frown and she sighed. "You ought to stop looking," she muttered sadly.

Howl hunched his shoulders in fear, but she continued to speak. "It ... won't do to long for something that doesn't even last, Sophie," she chided herself. "It's best to just go back to bed."

Yet she remained rooted in front of the mirror, unable to tear her eyes away.

The master of the castle, holding his breath in anticipation, could only imagine being used to a haggard and old appearance, and to suddenly see yourself as you once were like it was a dream come true. Yet Howl couldn't hold it in much longer. Despite himself, he decided to make things more interesting.

He closed the door, again without a sound. He counted seconds in his head before he cleared his throat loud enough for her to hear. In turn, he heard a frightened gasp and something shatter on the floor. He cringed at the noise, hoping it wasn't anything important, opened the door lazily and walked in, his gaze to the floor. He caught a glimpse of jar shards and relaxed. It was nothing. But Sophie's caught offguard state was surely something.

He looked up at the sheepish and wide-eyed Sophie, who was still looking young despite the abrupt surprise. He had to resist an admiring smile.

"Sophie," he muttered gently, pretending to not notice her beautiful change in appearance. "What are you doing, still awake?"

The culprit blushed pink and fiddled with her hair. "Um, I ..." she began slowly. "I just felt like doing some late-night cleaning. Your room is ... well, the only room that remains to be organized and de-cluttered. Please forgive me for entering ... I was just curious ..." Her voice drifted off and she bent over, collecting jar shards on her large nightgown. She had never so easily given in to anyone and apologize, particularily to him. It was rather upsetting.

"Curious, indeed," he answered. "I've already asked you to leave my belongings in their proper place and you've so far restrained yourself. You're sure all you were doing tonight was trying to clean?"

Sophie nodded, tucking loose strands of silver hair behind her ear. She threw the shards in a waste bin by the wardrobe and straightened her nightgown. "I should get back to bed." She shuffled around him and crossed the doorway, whispering a goodnight. As she walked, her back began to arch forward and her face drooped with the many signs of old age. There was a crackle that was louder than Calcifer could ever make it, and Sophie cringed slightly and rubbed her back.

Howl bit his flawless lip. He merely wanted to surprise her; not try and ruin her in her moment. "Oh, Sophie," Howl called gently.

He waited a moment before her head peered around the door frame and gazed at him with doe eyes surrounded by wrinkles and sun spots. He wanted to say so much to her, but perhaps another time would better suit the many words.

"You look lovely tonight," was all he said with a charming grin.

"... Thank you, Howl," she whispered with a shy smile, fingers tightly gripping the door frame. The action was perturbing, but she didn't seem upset or angered. In fact, her flustered state recovered some elasticity on her face and he knew he had done something right.

He bid her goodnight and she closed his door with a hint of a smile he just managed to catch. Howl knew his act was flawed; he was aware that Sophie would eventually realize he knew who she truly was. Yet moments such as this would be worth that risk.

Alone in his room, Howl turned on his heels, leaped up in the air and landed on his bed by all but floating down upon it. He stared at his ceiling with his head over his palms, and sighed.

Upon returning home, he would always see how she fared as she slept since he had discovered during a faraway bombing that other wizards were swearing allegiance to war patrons. Tonight's check on her was by far the best encounter. He was glad to know she could feel beautiful while still awake, not only when dreaming of a beauty that only _she_ failed to see in her reflection. Clearly Sophie was improving, and he was determined to help her see it's quite fine to love herself. In fact, he greatly encouraged self-admiration.

He rolled over onto his side and, as his mind fell prey to exhaustion, the candlelight on the night-table dimmed and the room glinted less as shadows swept over all of Howl's belongings.

But the darkness couldn't reach him tonight. He dreamt of a extravagant ball where there was dancing and many people taking advantage of a fleeting moment to feast their eyes on Howl. The great wizard, however, was incapable of returning their gaping stares and awed gasps with his usual glamour and grace. His pale eyes were focused solely on the woman with her arm in his, capturing the crowd nearly as much as him. Her eyes gleamed as she watched the scene, flowing silver hair reflecting the bright lights and sending flying stars across the high ceiling.

Howl hadn't thought of his bath that entire night.


	3. In Which Howl is Most Cunning

**No. 2  
><strong>**In Which Howl is Most Cunning  
><strong>**World: Book  
><strong>**Word: Minute**

"_HOWL AND MICHAEL_!" Sophie shrieked while closing the portal door, the squealing blizzard silencing as she did. "You have ONE MINUTE to clean up the mess you call your rooms before I come––!"

Sophie was about to shout more over Calcifer's unusually loud crackling, but her throat made a _sqweak! _to silence her anger. She had also accidentally swallowed a large speck of floating dust, and that helped neither voice nor mood.

She had just come home from a week's trip to visit her family in various locales, bustling by on occasion to merely drop a kiss and a 'hello' before dashing through the portal to go off elsewhere. And the state of the house upon her return was utterly atrocious.

_Calcifer isn't the only one keeping this house standing,_ she mused bitterly as she shrugged the snow off her cloak. She glowered at the mountain of ash surrounding Calcifer, the spiders that had snuck back in with Howl's favour, and the heaps of old and new trinkets and books that lay askew everywhere she turned. Along the greyed walls were horrible smears of something black that were evidence of explosions.

Sophie didn't want to think about what in damnation they were doing to cause such bangs, much less let her mind linger on the smell of the house. She pushed the heavy stench out of her senses, trying to keep her mind from hazing.

One bloody week has passed and the house seemed to be in worse condition than when she was an old lady needing a place to sleep! Surely they were torturing her!

The fire demon cleared his throat to attract the fuming Sophie's attention. "What you need is a cup of tea," he soothed. "Bring on the water and I'll heat it up for you."

Sophie hesitated, but really didn't enjoy the yelling and the anger squirming inside her. She hauled the large kettle over and set it on top of Calcifer. In the hearth, she sat down rather stiffly, remembering the days when painful back cracking was a daily routine, her lips downturned in dismay.

As she waited for the kettle to seethe, she began to wonder why she had shrieked the hardest in her life. Not only that, she was starting what others called her 'cleaning regime' backwards. The wizards' bedrooms––Howl's in particular––were always the last to be cleaned, and the worst off when she swung by.

Why, then, did she insist on making them suffer––?

_Ah. That's right, _she realized. They failed to keep the one promise they had made.

_"We promise to keep the household as clean as possible while you are away," Howl and Michael said before she left for her trip._

_"Cross my heart," Howl added sincerely with the gesture. Then he kissed her as though he wouldn't see her again in years._

But Howl and Michael hadn't been sincere at all. Not one bit. Sophie felt anger bubble inside her and she noticed Calcifer watching her carefully. He began to mumble. "So ... how was the trip?"

Sophie was aware this was a temporary distraction, but she welcomed it. "Lettie and Wizard Suliman have been hard at work and it was rather difficult to track them down outside of Ingary. I'm sorry to say I can't reveal where I finally found them, they want to keep that a mystery until they return. I suppose they don't want other people to ..." She struggled to find her words but it was as though her mind was wheezing uselessly. "Oh, it's like I've been cursed with selective mutism again! ... Never mind that then. Fanny has been hiding her interest in Prince Justin but I know what she was doing in Kingsbury. Dressed so finely, she could have been royalty! I also visited an old friend and it's been all good fun ... and then I came home," she ended with a huff. Sophie lifted her chin to the scraps of burnt wood encircling the hearth like an unused campfire.

Calcifer shifted under the kettle and it began to screech, begging for relief. Sophie poured herself a cup and drank it slowly, dragging out her slurps as she debated with which room she should begin. _Oh,_ she figured after a moment,_ it wouldn't be right if I gave Howl time to hide his things while I tortured Michael first._

Sophie placed the cup on the table and brushed ceiling specks off her dress. Then she wrapped an apron around her waist and a rag around her red gold hair. She stomped loudly up the stairs with a bucket, sponge, waste-bin bag, tattered mop, blackened besom, and a devastating look about her.

She noticed Howl's room had noises coming from within it. _Pop! Clink!_

Curiously, Sophie began to walk over, stomping her traveller's shoes so Howl knew she was approaching, when two voices in different directions pleaded "Not ready! Not ready!"

Sophie Hatter hardened her face and said, "Your minute is long gone and I want to see how badly you've both broken your promise!" She marched toward Howl's room when Michael whipped past from _her_ room with a pile of _her_ books in his arms. "Michael, good heavens, what are you––"

"Not ready, not ready!" was all Michael replied before shutting Howl's door. There was a final _click! _before it was silent in the hallway. Sophie sighed and slowly opened the door for herself and froze under the door frame of Howl's room. And yet, the space before her eyes was entirely different than what she expected.

She bent backwards to check where she was and, knowing she was indeed in the right room, she stepped in and peered about the strangely larger room.

And it wasn't just larger. It was spotless!

All the large, golden-brown furniture had been taken away. The carpet was replaced by wood floors that gleamed in streaks of orange from the sunset pouring in from the window, and all the litter on the floor had vanished. The hundreds of peculiar books Sophie was accustomed to seeing was elsewhere, and Sophie vaguely wondered where. She wagered twelve pence on the yard beyond the room's single window, which was now larger, it seemed.

Sophie dropped her bucket and supplies and brushed a hand along the clean walls that had been painted blue to extend the reaches of the outside sky. She walked along an unlittered floor and took her shoes off before stepping onto a lush cream rug under the same old four-poster bed, but of whitewashed wood. The translucent curtain covering the posts seemed unsure of what shade of colour it was as it shimmered over her hand. She glided around the bed in a sort of daze, passing by a large white chest, a tall snow-bright vanity and a wardrobe. Sophie stopped at the window and looked out the window and saw the field of flowers she so deeply loved and had missed admiring. Clusters of poinsettia shrubs covered the rolling hills and the only things interrupting the endless red were patches of snow and colorful crocuses that Sophie swore she could smell from where she stood.

There was a gold dial with a round knob on the window sill, surrounded with pink roses in dark clay pots, and Sophie turned it a quarter way right. The outdoor scene before her changed to Kingsbury's bustling streets. She turned it again, and found herself looking at tall snowy mountains she had never seen before. She turned again and again as she pleased, seeing forests, Porthaven, Market Chipping, and a sparkling street lined with strange buildings that rose high above her view.

"Now Sophie dear, don't go breaking that dial on its first day," a smooth voice coaxed her out of her daze. She looked to her right and saw Howl dressed in a dark auburn shirt with a gold-trimmed white jacket. Behind him, Michael was organizing a wall-length bookcase that held many books, hidden in an alcove she hadn't noticed. There she saw another smaller door leading to what she assumed was a bathroom. Sophie immediately decided she must claim as much of the bathroom as possible before Howl can consume it all.

"Good evening, Howl," she said oddly. She felt foreign in this new room, and desired an explanation. He willingly gave her one.

"Michael and I are quite aware of our promise we made to you and we kept it when it came to our bedrooms. His is remarkably spotless. Downstairs, however, was left unattended to distract you when you returned home."

"Distract me ... from this?" She gestured all around the room, taking her time to focus her eyes back on Howl and the still busy Michael.

"I knew your trip this week would have been eventful and tiring. I figured you'd want to get a good night's sleep when you returned." Howl smiled sunnily and Sophie used all her power to remain focused.

"But how could I fall asleep knowing the nightmare of a mess downstairs remains unattended?" She wondered lightly, leaning against the wall with her shoulder. "And I couldn't possibly sleep with _you_ in the room, staring in the mirror and murmuring spells and compliments to yourself as usual." Sophie shook her head and straightened her skirt. "This is all very nice, but I would very much prefer my own quaint room to sleep this evening. I'll be downstairs to ease my concern over the welfare of poor Calcifer, stuck that disaster room without even realizing he could save himself by leaving awhile. Then I shall retire to my own room."

Howl didn't let her leave. "But _this_ is your room now," he insisted and guided her kindly to the bed. She knew she had hurt him by being cold and unappreciative, even as he hid his pain. Such a man, heartless or otherwise, would always need praise and love. She just didn't feel willing to give him that yet.

Sophie sat down, resisting her urge to grin. "So it's _your_ job to dictate my lifestyle? I should think otherwise, Howl," she scoffed.

Howl sat beside her and put both hands over hers. "Please just listen, Sophie. Tonight I was hoping things could be a little different. Instead of you going off to run wild through the castle, Michael will use a quick spell to handle that. Meanwhile, you would rest before supper and I'd keep you company, completely oblivious to the mirror." The earnestness laced in his voice made her quiver.

"And why," she began with a surreal shiver, "must this evening be so different from any other?"

Howl sat closer and pressed his lips to her cheek. "I was hoping that tonight we wouldn't sleep in separate rooms," he whispered softly.

Sophie's stomach dipped as it became harder to breathe, yet she stubbornly slid away. "But that would be highly improper, Howl," she argued and tried to mean it. Howl asked Michael to start on the spell and the boy seemed happy to go.

When the apprentice left, Sophie still wouldn't budge on her excuse. "I meant that we aren't even married yet! I couldn't sleep in the same room with you."

Howl frowned and pleaded. "Sophie! We can't follow society's rules when we've already surpassed so many. We are living under the same roof, to start! And Fanny isn't around to supervise us together! Why are you being so ..." His words drifted off as he ran his fingers through his hair, and Sophie's face broke into a smile.

_Maybe now would be a good time to give the poor man what he wants, _she thought.

"Well," Sophie plucked a stray thread out of his jacket while not unravelling the flamboyant clothing, "I suppose we're far from traditional courting. And this room really is lovely, if I haven't mentioned it."

"You haven't," Howl remarked with a sigh as he lay back on the bed, not bothering to hide the pride in his voice at her compliment.

Sophie followed his lead, her joyful smile fully revealing itself. "Well, there you have it." She turned onto her side and Howl pulled her in by the waist. They lay there and Sophie was beginning to feel sleepy when she looked up at Howl. His dark spring green eyes glowed in the dimming sunset, gazing at her and at nothing else, as promised. She could have stayed this way for a long time, happy to be home, but something was gnawing at her mind.

"Howl?"

He hummed an answer, looking tired himself.

"That was a rather good plan."

His eyes became alert and he furrowed his dark brow for just a moment. Then he was calm again. "Hush, don't talk. Just sleep awhile and we'll have dinner soon."

Sophie rolled her eyes and shook her head against the mattress. "No no no, you can't slither out of this one. I know you did all this to hide the fact that you were too lazy and _heartless_ to clean the mess downstairs_._ Even if you're a wizard, who could turn the place spotless with the lift of a finger."

Howl pouted and she suddenly wanted to kiss him. "I'm hurt! Is it too hard for you to believe that I did this just to see you smile?"

Sophie grinned and burrowed into his chest, and she could hear his heart beating loudly. "I know you Howl," she said as he stroked her back, "and you were trying to keep my mind off the mess. _T__rying _to have it the way it once was, dusty and cluttered and disastrous." Sophie lifted her head and smiled bittersweetly up at him. Eyes wavering, Howl looked like a sheepish child. He hesitated a moment and Sophie was surprised she could make the Great Wizard Howl trip over his own high-class shoes.

"I thought we could compromise," he muttered despairingly,

Sophie shifted so she could kiss him and Howl suddenly wasn't so melancholic. Not really wanting to, she parted to gaze at him and looked at him hopelessly. Howl sighed and twirled a strand of her hair. "I suppose ..." Howl sighed heavily, "I'll just have to accept an eternally clean house, and everything else that accompanies you."

Sophie gasped as she sat upright and slapped his arm. "Don't make it sound so tragic!"

* * *

><p>A.N: Thank you readers for the reviews! They're all greatly appreciated. This was a little tricky to end but I hope it works.<p>

In light of the holiday season, I've granted a wish for the first oneshot pulled out of the book while still keeping some of the charm of the movie. If you haven't read the book, 1) Read it!, and 2) I hope you could still enjoy this. The most important changes are that little Markl is a teenage Michael, and Howl likes to "slither out" of pesky situations (as if that wasn't obvious). Oh, and Sophie seems to be the best person to know when Howl is trying to escape with witty words and distractions (Hey, look in front of you––it's a distraction!)

I'm beginning to wonder why these oneshots are over 1,000 words each. That wasn't what I had in mind, since I'm using a random word generator. Speaking of the thing, it's been rather mean to me by giving all these mundane words I can't work with. But I digress ... Should I try the "short and sweet" style sometime, or are you guys happy with the length?


	4. In Which Mirrors are Hexed

No. 3  
><strong>In Which Mirrors are Hexed<br>**World: Post-movie  
><strong>Word: Trap<strong>

A.N: Not much feedback for that second update. Thanks to _hanner _though_, _who left a very nice anonymous review. If you somehow missed oneshot #2, at least answer my questions in its footnote please.

And NOTE: "slip" is wet clay ;)

* * *

><p>Sophie carried three plates of steaming flapjacks to the table as Markl sat hungrily in his chair.<p>

"Now. Do you promise manners during the entire meal?" Sophie looked into the boy's eyes. Markl sighed before getting up, pulling out Sophie's chair for her, then sitting himself straight after she had sat down with an impressed smile. "Thank you for the chair. Now, where is––_Markl!"_

The boy grudgingly retracted his arm from his plate.

"Not yet, Howl is still upstairs." With a frown on her face, she asked, "Will you go get him?"

Markl pounded up the stairs as Sophie tossed the fire demon strawberries. "How strange," Sophie said to him. "Howl woke _me_ up early to ask for flapjacks."

Calcifer swallowed the fruit. "Maybe it's his 'time of the month.' " Sophie laughed when Markl called her. His head peered from the top of the stairs, and Markl had a grin on his face that erased the little worries in Sophie's mind. She curiously followed him to the bathroom, and she could hear desperate moans beyond the closed door.

Sophie opened the door but it wasn't what she had expected. Howl wasn't brooding by the mirror, pulling at his unshapely hair. Instead, the room was empty. There was an odd pink liquid nearly overflowing in the sink, and Sophie frowned. Markl pulled at Sophie's sleeve as he bounded up and down.

"The mirror," he whispered excitedly.

Sophie was taken by surprise. As she stared at the pink-stained glass, Howl's tragically miserable face stared back at her. She tilted her head and, when the reflection didn't copy her, she reached to touch the glass. "Howl?"

"It's me, Sophie. Help!"

She inspected the frame all around and tapped the glass, which caused Howl to press his hands to his ears. "Sorry," she muttered. "What did you do?"

Howl sighed loudly. "Nothing! Someone hexed it! I was looking at the bottle of that pink liquid when I spilled it on the mirror. I tried to wipe it down, but then I became like this! ... Look at me, Sophie, I haven't half-finished my spells. They'll fade if I don't finish up!"

How ironic this was for Howl to be trapped in his own mirror! Perhaps he was only complaining because he might not be able to see himself through it. "Enough about your spells, we won't go blind looking at you. Are you behind the mirror or _in_ the mirror?"

Howl looked behind him for a moment and his eyes went wide in even greater exasperation. "I must be inside it, there's nothing behind me!"

"Well then. How do we go about getting you out? And if we can't, how long will you be in there?"

Markl was wiggling in place and Sophie lifted a brow at him. "There's only one way to get him out," he said. "Otherwise, he'll be stuck until noon."

"Noon?" Howl asked. "Why noon? And how do you know about a spell I never heard of? This isn't a portal, it's cold and empty back here." Howl pounded the glass desperately. "Get me out! I can feel my skin drying in this chill!"

Sophie rolled her eyes and sighed. _There's no reason to get upset if the spell will wear off, you poor man._

Markl was swaying jubilantly at the doorway. "I'll help you out, Master Howl. But you won't like it." The apprentice lifted from his back pocket a jar of mucky substance. "It's slip," he told them. Markl looked up at the perplexed Howl. "We'll paint over you with this, and then you'll come out once I perform the counter spell."

Both Howl and Sophie raised a brow each, and Sophie suddenly found herself wondering what day it was. _It's the middle of March, isn't it? _

Howl's shoulders sagged and his white blouse seemed to droop too. "Very well. But I don't want that mucky clay in my hair as I come out of the mirror."

_Or is March over?_

"But it only works if I draw exactly you. I'll have to cover your head, your clothes ... everything!"

_Maybe we're in April ..._

Howl tried protesting as Markl lugged a stool over to the sink. "Hold still, Master Howl," Markl cooed.

Sophie was pulled out of her thoughts as she watched Markl draw the outline of Howl's jaw before adding a fat fisherman's moustache above the trapped man's lip.

"Don't move, or the slip will be stuck on you forever!" Markl cried out, and Howl gave his apprentice a horrified glare. Sophie laughed and soon realized she had to take part in this! Walking over to dip her finger in the thickening slip, she painted one long stroke along both of the man's brows, blurring them together under the gray brown mud.

"Sophie!" Howl managed to wail without moving much. "How can you do this to me?"

Sophie smiled at him pleasantly. "Everything's going to be fine, Howl. You've never looked more handsome."

"Oh, bite me," he muttered indignantly. Sophie grinned wider, and Markl began adding jagged accents to Howl's hair.

Half an hour passed in silence, which was blissful for the painters and torture for the painted. Howl's actual body was entirely covered up by a dirty gray version of him, the single holes in the picture were for most of his face. As a finishing touch, Sophie added spectacular curls to Howl's half-dry moustache. When the artists had stepped back to admire their work, they could see Howl was ready to explode. The wizard's face was red with embarrassment and anger, as was Markl's in mirth.

"Let ... me out," Howl seethed. But the onlookers admired him with wide smiles. If only there was a way to forever capture the Great Wizard Howl in this moment: a man of single brow with a twirly moustache, and extravagant twists of hair all around his head like he had been struck by lightning.

"Markl, I should hardly find this amusing. I've been standing for nearly an hour, watching you two slap mud across my image with those crass smiles plastered over you both. And I can't even see what you've drawn on me!"

"Is the clay really _on _you, Howl?" Sophie asked. "Then you _must_ be part of the mirror. You're one with it now!" She exclaimed with crossed arms.

"Well, there's still two hours till noon," Markl announced. "Would you rather stay there or come out now, Master Howl?"

Howl glowered at his apprentice. _"Now,_ if you don't mind," he replied indignantly.

The plump boy rolled his sleeves. "I myself would have waited the misery out," he commented. Then, he cupped a handful of the pink liquid into his palms and splashed his teacher with it. He repeated this a second time before drying his hands with his overalls.

A ripple passed along the mirror. Then, Howl stirred and the slip was suddenly dry and stuck to Howl's body. He looked as though he leaned forward, and his head went from flat in the mirror to causing ripples as he pushed out of it. His muddy, lightning-struck hair and face were drenched with pink liquid and Howl still had the glorious moustache and unibrow plastered to his face.

Sophie and Markl backed up against the bathtub as the rest of Howl came out of the mirror. They held back laughs as they stared at the new Howl: now pink and covered in gray clay.

Sophie bit her lip and couldn't hold it in any longer. Gripping the rim of the bathtub, she began laughing and laughing, so loudly her stomach soon began to ache. Markl followed her lead and pointed a clay clad finger at the poor wizard.

"April ... Fool's ... Master ... Howl!" Markl cried between laughs. Sophie faltered for a moment and realized this was what she had been wondering about before. What a clever child, that apprentice!

Howl inspected the disaster he had become and quickly came to realize something. "It was your doing, Markl, wasn't it?" The wizard pointed an accusatory finger at the boy. "You think this is some amusing prank?"

Markl couldn't respond in his moment of joy. Sophie eventually saw Howl shaking, emotions bottled as he saw his reflection with horrified eyes. Slowly, Sophie decided the moment was passing.

"All right, Markl. You'd better hide until the Day is over. Did you say until noon?"

Markl shook his head and wiped away happy tears. "That's just the spell. I wanted to carry on the prank until the end of the Day, but I thought it would be too cruel."

"You thought right. Now go, while Howl gets cleaned up," Sophie said. She turned to Howl, who was looking a little green.

"Oh no, you don't! If you dare start up the slime," she threatened, "I'll use your muddy face as a mop to clean it up."

Howl looked at her from the center of the room, to his reflection and then back to her. He took a step closer and, with a wave of his gray hand, the door behind Sophie shut and locked itself.

Sophie tried to turn the knob and she shook it, but it wouldn't budge. She whirled around to see Howl with his arms outstretched. "I need a hug, Sophie."

Her eyes went wide and she pressed her back against the wall as Howl cornered her. "Breakfast is cold, Howl. I have to heat the flapjacks!" She cried breathlessly. But the wizard ignored her as he wrapped his arms around her waist, her wet dress quickly clinging to her skin. Howl lifted her off her toes before sliding down to the floor with her in his lap.

Sophie was soon as wet as Howl, who looked as muddy as the garden after rain. Still, she found herself smiling at the man, and he was grinning too.

"You're taking this surprisingly well," she remarked as she tried to pick off the moustache stuck to his face.

"Yes, I suppose I am ... I'm glad I set up my prank for Markl last week. He's going to be worse off than me soon."

Sophie's brow shot up and she tried to wipe his brow down. "Is he really?"

Howl nodded. "You're quite fortunate that my plan was tricky. You should find yourself prank-free and unharmed. But ..."

There was a crash, a slight ticking, and a sudden _BOOM! _before the house shook violently. Bath chemicals tumbled off the shelves and something awful filtered in from under the door. Sophie covered her nose and saw Howl grin.

"Stink bomb?" Sophie asked with a choke. Howl grinned and shifted a bit before lifting her up. The last of the moustache broke off and Sophie saw Howl had missed a spot while shaving, before he did something to the pink liquid that activated the spell and trapped him.

"I'd very much like a bath right now. What about you?" He asked, pulling her out of her observation.

Sophie blushed madly but Howl didn't hear her argue. He feigned slipping on the tile as he carried her to the bathtub. "Since we're going to be using the only working tub ..."

"I wager Markl will be most miserable for the hour," Sophie finished for him as she untied her silver hair from its bun and began running the hot water.

"For the next week," Howl corrected Sophie before giving her a kiss.

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><p>A.N: Please leave a comment! I know it's not April Fool's Day but people play pranks on new year's too, don't they?<p> 


	5. In Which Sophie has a Secret pt1

**No. 4  
><strong>**In Which Sophie has a Secret Pt. 1  
><strong>**World: A year-ish post-movie, featuring Morgan (Howl and Sophie's baby in the book)  
><strong>**Word: Preserving**

The flying castle was stagnant, resting on the slope of the rolling hills surrounding the Waste. Stars were beginning to twinkle early in the hot-color sky as the sun touched the horizon. Calcifer, out somewhere with the stars above, was replaced in the hearth by a fire Howl had lit. It wasn't nearly as warm as their fire demon, but Sophie sat comfortably as she rocked the sleeping Morgan in her arms.

She heard footsteps as Markl walked down the stairs and stood by the bottom of it. "Goodnight, Sophie," he said hushedly. Sophie pulled her eyes away from her child and smiled at him, seeing the warmth in his gaze.

"Sweet dreams, Markl," Sophie replied.

The youth grinned sleepily and Sophie glanced over his features. He had sprouted at least four inches since she had given birth, his spiked amber hair was getting darker, and the blemishes and their scars on his face never seemed to lessen these days.

Her musing ended when Markl walked back up the stairs, but the image of his elongating face didn't leave her peaceful mind until Howl came downstairs to collect his wife and child. He pressed a kiss to Morgan's rounded forehead and they all settled for the sleep.

It was a peaceful time for the household and Sophie couldn't be more happy with how her life had turned out. Offhandedly, she would sometimes wonder what could have become of her had she not decided to visit her well-off sister Lettie during that parade. What could have changed? How would she have differed from the young woman she had re-become?

Certainly, her wits had waned some since Morgan had stopped being cholicy. The following morning, when Howl pounded down the stairs with wide cerulean eyes, Sophie told herself to hope the peace would last through whatever was wrong. She paused in her cooking and prepared for the outburst she had been too naive to believe would never return.

Howl's had his hands in fists and his dark hair floated with the help of a cold and invisible updraft. "We've been robbed!" He exclaimed as he reached the foot of the stairs, ignorant of Morgan still sleeping in his crib by the table.

Sophie's response was incredulous. "Did you misplace something?" She asked with her hands on her hips, pointing her stirrer away from her skirt.

Her husband shook his head as he began plowing through the things in the main room. "I would never misplace my hair dyes, blemish remover, wrinkle flatener _and_ toothbrush. That's far too many things to lose in one night!" He paused a moment in thought, before parting some hair away from his forehead. Inches away from Sophie's face, Howl pointed out a small blemish above the arch of his brow and Sophie stared at it, slightly amused. Seeing how she didn't understand what he was going through, Howl cried out, "Wizards don't get bumps! I don't know if it's the stress of Morgan, but I haven't looked this horrible since I was Markl's age!"

Sophie hadn't known he owned a blemish remover, nor a wrinkle flatener. She had certainly never seen them while cleaning the bathroom. "You don't look horrible," she insisted absently, "and your things couldn't have been stolen. We're at the borders of the Waste, remember?"

Howl sighed exasperatedly and began desperately filing through unused logs along the hearth. Sophie watched him with a blatant stare, grinning at his state of panic. _Howl using a wrinkle flatener ... _Sophie wanted to know how it worked and why on earth he used it.

The pottage in her large pot began to seethe, but Sophie was distracted from it. Eyes were piercing through her and she felt slightly uncomfortable. She turned on her heels and found Howl had been standing behind her with a strained expression. Her brow creased and she asked, "What's wrong?"

Howl took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "... Where did you put my things?" He asked in a flat tone. Morgan squirmed in his cradle as if the hushed words had been cried out.

She was confused for a moment, until she realized what he was implying. "Goodness Howl! Take a moment to think about it," she reasoned gently. "What could I possibly gain from that?"

Howl's resolve wavered minutely, but Sophie was the only explanation he had. His pale face hardened and he wasn't going to let the thief get away from stealing his things. It was his personal stuff! Long had he learned to tame the green slime during the rare tantrum, thanks to Sophie's stern voice and coaxing. Was this a sort of test for him: to see whether he was strong enough to restrain himself?

"I don't know," he sighed impatiently, when an abrupt thought struck him. "Maybe you were afraid of looking old again!" He didn't notice Sophie's face darken as he continued to say, "Just give them back to me!"

Sophie crossed her arms furiously, the spoon in her hand accidently sending porridge across Howl's white and gold blouse. He looked down at the stain in blue-eyed shock while Sophie, biting her lip shut, went against herself to hold back an apology. She wasn't going to let him ease his way out of this one.

"Just as a fair warning," she asserted to grab his attention from the stain, "I intend on making you live with every single one of the hundred wrinkles I'll get again. Unlike you, I take pride in looking natural! So – so how dare you accuse me of going behind your back and using your shallow magic!"

Averting her gaze from his stunned face, she eyed the brownish stain she had left on his clothes. The sight of it only made her more furious and she slammed her spoon down onto the table. "Take that off and I'll wash it," she snapped while looking away from him. Howl scowled while trying to think of what to say.

"The nerve of you to distrurb me while cooking," she muttered vehemously to the bubbling pottage before her. "Couldn't you badger Markl instead?" She stirred as if the porridge was the one who had accused her of fearing old age. Howl shrugged dramatically behind Sophie and wondered why he was feeling speechless. Would she _please _just return his things?

But as Howl internally begged her to give back at least the blemish remover, he felt a slight pull inside his chest that made his whole body grow weak. His heart was trying to give him a sign ... but what was it? Even after more than a year he still didn't know what it was trying to tell him sometimes. If only Calcifer were here to help him sort some of the beating mess inside him.

As if summoned by Sophie, Markl appeared at the landing and froze at the sight of Morgan's parents. They looked more angry at each other than they had when their baby had that terrible fit on midsummer's eve and Howl refused to help.

Howl and Sophie turned around and stared at Markl, skin clear as daylight and blemish-free. His ear-length spiked hair had waves of yellow woven into it and they shone like the light out the window.

Sophie rolled her eyes, unfazed by the growing boy's appearance, and returned to her cooking while Howl slowly approached his apprentice, heart racing. "Do _you _know where my things are?" Howl asked roughly. He hadn't meant to sound so rude, but Sophie was being unreasonable and he still didn't have the means to destroy the cursed blemish on his face!

Markl's lips were pressed into a thin line and he didn't respond.

"I see you're looking very impressive today," Howl went on in his alluring yet darkening voice with gritted teeth. "Are those streaks of blonde in your hair?"

Markl backed up a few steps and quickly gave in to the hopeless situation. "I'm sorry, Master Howl! My face was driving me insane and I ... I ..." His voice cracked before it faded away. Howl was towering over his apprentice now.

Markl stared at the floor. "I didn't want to ask you for help. It–it would have been ..." he stopped talking again, and Howl wondered why young boys were becoming the sheer opposite of eloquent.

Howl cleared his throat and tried to be the adult. "Don't be embarrassed about such things. If anything, you should have told me. You could have given yourself an even more disastrous skin condition."

Markl grimaced. "But I didn't make any mistakes," he argued.

Howl's lips curved into a charmed grin as he finally relaxed. His heart was still tugging and pleading his brain to stop a moment to think, but the only thought crossing his mind was how unskilled he had allowed his apprentice to be all this time. "Perhaps you haven't seen your hair in the mirror yet. Go to the bathroom while I get Morgan. He can learn as much as you from this."

Sophie heard Howl's idea and frowned bitterly.

Markl left Howl and Sophie downstairs, which had suddenly gone quiet. Sophie wasn't sure if Howl was too excited to teach Markl how to dye hair, but her face grew hot as her husband lifted the whimpering Morgan from his wooden cradle and carried him out of Sophie's sight. She turned around when she noticed her baby making the troubling noise, but Howl was already upstairs with Markl.

Sophie lifted the heavy pot out of the hearth and placed it in the sink. The porridge now didn't smell appetizing at all and sported a foul brown. She had had trouble paying attending to it while trying to listen to Howl's conversation with Markl. Sophie sighed sadly as she stood alone in the kitchen. Her offended expression was making her skin whine in protest, but the wrinkles between her brow just wouldn't relax.

_The nerve of that wizard, _she thought with a pounding head. Sophie imagined herself with wrinkles wilting her face and the age spots all over her skin. She knew everyone feared old age and its troubles, but she knew firsthand the nightmare it could be sometimes. Hadn't she gone through enough of it?

Alone in the large room, Sophie craved the company of Calcifer and the warmth of Morgan in her arms, but the fire demon was still out with his kind and Morgan was upstairs. She couldn't go fetch him, and she slowly felt she couldn't stay in this house much longer.

Sophie opened the portal door, the arrow pointed down at green, and she walked along the summer flowers with a vigorous pace that gradually betrayed the faltering energy inside her. As steps increased from dozens to hundreds, her feet bothered her and she began to slow down. The everlasting perfume never left her senses and neither did the emptiness creeping towards and overwhelming her.

When Sophie finally stopped walking, she sat on a patch of long grass and stared out at the water that rested in large, close-knit ponds. She pushed strands of hair away from her face and as her hand paused around her eyes, she found tears sliding down to its corners. With a shaking breath, Sophie realized she couldn't hold it in anymore and she cried into her palms, none there to hear her in the secret valley.

* * *

><p>A.N: Thanks for the great reviews for the previous oneshot, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it as much as I did while writing it! Each new comment really pushes me to come up with ideas and update quickly.<p>

Oh––this _is_ an incomplete chapter. It will probably be one out of two parts. Review, dear readers, and part 2 will come very soon!


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